DESCRIPTION (Adapted from the Applicant's Description): Stroke is the leading cause of chronic adult disability in the United States. Preliminary work by the Principal Investigator suggested that better long-term functional outcomes of stroke were related to higher educational status. Effects of educational status on outcomes grew over time post-stroke, suggesting that education was related to the process of recovery, and not only to medical severity of the stroke. The investigator hypothesize that educational status is a proxy for one or more personal characteristics that are the actual mechanisms by which recovery is affected. In this project, (1) this preliminary finding will be replicated; (2) personal characteristics for which educational status may be a proxy will be investigated through quantitative inquiry; and (3) ways in which these personal characteristics affect the rehabilitation experience, thus impacting functional outcomes, will be explored through qualitative inquiry. The overall result of the pilot project will be a statistical model of how personal characteristics -e.g. self-efficacy, self-esteem, and locus of control which are concomitants of patients educational status are related to stroke functional outcomes after controlling for relevant covariates such as depression and co-morbidities. This can then provide the basis for full-scale investigations which (1) specify more complete models of stroke outcomes; and then (2) test practical interventions focusing on these variables, tailored to the needs of patients with poorer outcomes. During the first phase of the project, qualitative study will suggest the extent to which the concomitants of educational status are associated with functional outcomes, including disability and participation in everyday activities after stoke. During the second phase, qualitative inquiry using focused interviews will be directed towards understanding how the relevant characteristics may be related thematically to patients experience of rehabilitation events. During the third and final phase, quantitative data collection will continue, with any refinements suggested by the qualitative analysis. Data collection will take place in subjects homes. A total of 140 former rehabilitation in-patients after first stroke will participate in the quantitative analysis. They will be recruited from two institutions in southeastern Pennsylvania, and assessed at baseline (2-3 weeks post-discharge) and then at follow-up 5 months later. Thirty-two patients from the quantitative sample, with at-home or nursing-home care givers if available, will participate in the qualitative analysis.